Celebrities don't own the patent on self-reinvention -- tech firms have been known to alter their image too.

Struggling for the better part of a decade to get it right, two Pittsburgh tech firms have embraced the philosophy of self-reinvention. But Downtown-based TimeSys Corp. and Oakland-based Wizzard Software have found only moderate success in a string of transformations that have included a new focus, new managers, new staff and new products.

This time, they say, is different.

At TimeSys, industry veteran Atul Bansal is the new man in charge of a new team dedicated to making old customers happy and new customers hungry.

And Wizzard Software yesterday announced a $7.5 million cash infusion from investors, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment board, to help it stake a claim in the gold rush for interactive, consumer-driven Internet.

Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Atul Bansal, CEO of TimeSys. Click photo for larger image.

It's a new direction that Wizzard chief Chris Spencer welcomes. Reeling in $1 million or so annually selling technology that enabled people to talk to computers and pill bottles to tell patients of their contents wasn't cutting it.

"The bottom line is that we've been trying to build a profitable speech business for 11 years," said Mr. Spencer. "It's done [well], but it hasn't been the big home-run technology that [we] hoped for."

Since its 1995 launch, Wizzard has played a trio of varied roles -- from a maker of software that allowed users to write and send e-mail by talking to their computers to producer of "Rex," a tiny talking pill bottle that tells patients what's inside to Web hub for podcasters.

"We've tried a lot of things. We tried everything we could," said Mr. Spencer.

While the bulk of Wizzard's profits still come from

the talking pill bottle, the company has shifted its focus to podcasting, Mr. Spencer said, and using Wizzard's technology to match advertisers with podcasts that fit their brand.

The talking pill bottle is a "nice steady business," he said, "but we're a high-tech company -- and we've been looking for explosive growth."

Wizzard's growing pains are not uncommon. Many new firms get too focused on getting the product right, rather than getting the right product for the right market, said Jim Berardone, CEO of the Product Strategy Network.

Usually with innovative technologies, the most attractive market for profit and growth is not the first market you should enter, he added.

TimeSys too has been on an upward trajectory that was riddled with dips. The 11-year-old firm has struggled to find the right use for its technology that helps software developers build the embedded computers in gadgets ranging from gaming devices to cars.

Initially, TimeSys sold testing tools for software developers, and later, entire operating systems based on open-source software known as Linux.

The first iteration of TimeSys looked more like a traditional software firm -- complete with licenses and price tag that turned off some potential customers, said investor Joe Raffa, a principal at Adams Capital Management who served as the firm's interim CEO for four months earlier this year.

"We had the approach right," added Joel Adams, who heads Sewickley-based Adams Capital, which has poured more than $30 million into the firm. But the market wasn't ready.

The challenge was waiting for the market to catch up. The company was too early and Linux wasn't yet widely adopted, said Mr. Bansal. That's changed, he added, and now 30 percent of the makers of embedded systems use Linux compared with 10 years ago, he added.

More than a decade and roughly $40 million later, TimeSys is on its third product line -- LinuxLink -- and it's third CEO, Mr. Bansal. His experience founding and guiding Laurel Networks through its launch to its 2005 sale for $88 million to Israeli telecommunications firm ECI Telecom is exactly what the firm needs, said Mr. Raffa. "I've seen a high level of interest from people in the industry. It's a good time."

It's the only formula for success that's tried and true, management consultants agree. A company has to toss the strategies (and people) that don't work and embrace those that do until it finds, or stumbles upon, the right niche.

Sometimes, you have to enter a less attractive market until you've proven your technology, figured out how to manufacture it, market it and sell it, according to Mr. Berardone.

"There is a lot of learning that goes on and many entrepreneurs grossly underestimate the market learning and time that is required," he said.